ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180035
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
The deer season was a strange one, dividing hunters into two camps: those who saw plenty of deer and those who saw none.
That makes it difficult to predict whether the 1995-96 kill fell below or pushed above last season's record of 209,373.
Wildlife officials don't expect to have the official computer count before early February. Like numerous other functions, that process has been slowed by the snow, said Matt Knox, the deer research biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
``It will be interesting,'' said Knox. ``I believe the west is up, but I'm not convinced what the east will do.''
No one will be surprised if the muzzleloading kill takes a leap. Interest in black-powder hunting has been growing, and participants for the first time had the option of mounting a scope on their rifle.
But did those factors result in an increase in the kill, or did they simply change the time of the kill, moving it from the regular gun season to the early muzzleloading season?
``I would argue that it is the same deer being killed two weeks early,'' said Knox.
West Virginia has completed its deer-kill tally - it makes a hand count - and it is a whopper. The bucks-only season produced a kill of 99,549, a 33 percent increase over the previous season.
``For the first time in many years the bucks-only season opened with abundant snowfall over the entire state creating excellent hunting conditions for locating deer,'' said Charles Felton Jr., the director of West Virginia's Division of Natural Resources.
West Virginia's buck season is followed by three days of antlerless deer hunting. That season produced 58,571 deer.
Virginia hunters also enjoyed favorable weather conditions during the two-week western season.
Knox had made a preseason prediction that the statewide kill would be stable, not much change either up or down from the previous season. Denny Quaiff, the executive director of the Virginia Deer Hunters Association, said Wednesday that he still believes that's what the outcome will be, but some hunters anticipate a higher-than-expected kill. They are wondering if the season's liberal regulations and good hunting conditions have cut too deeply into the herd.
``If it is up, it will be interesting to see what is up,'' Knox said.
One thing is for certain, the herd is in good condition, a fact verified by impressive body weights and antler development, he said. That means deer should have experienced little stress during the recent heavy snowfall.
``Now if we had two feet of snow in March, we'd probably have a problem,'' he said.
One record already on the books is the amount of venison processed and distributed by the Hunters for the Hungry program. The tally was 103,575 pounds, well above last year's 82,000 pounds, said David Horne, the director of the program.
GIVING A HOOT: Ray Koger is a pressman at The Roanoke Times, which means he works at night and drives home to Craig County during the wee hours of morning. One recent foggy morning, somewhere between 3 and 4 a.m., Koger was a couple of miles south of New Castle when an object came hurtling from a roadside pine tree to thump against the side of his truck.
He stopped his truck to find a tiny owl alongside the road. Koger identified it as one of the rare - for these parts - saw-whet owls we featured on the Monday Outdoor Page.
The little critter appeared to be dazed, so Koger carefully placed it in a spot where it wouldn't be hit by another vehicle and drove home, hoping it would regain its senses and fly off into the night.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB